greenorelse wrote:
...and the sad fact that so many people are apparently shocked by what he said. If money doesn't rule the world, then what does?

We all know money rules the world, but capitalism is supposed to be a system where you invest money in good businesses so they do well and you get a return. This guy made it clear that these days, they are simply gambling, doesn't matter whether companies (or countries) do well or badly, they can make money out of it. And what he was saying that in the next 12 months the system is going to collapse, a major recession, and he is rubbing his hands with glee because he, the 'smart' people, Goldman Sachs, etc will make loads of money whilst you and me, the small people with our money in the bank, paying taxes and perhaps a small pension will be wiped out, taken to the cleaners.

Going back to the original post, we have a similar set of problems locally in Northumberland. Rural area, remote villages with few inhabitants that do not pay for a commercial service and lack of money in the pot to subsidise all the routes that are useful to the local population. Adapt NE runs a variety of services to fill in the spaces.

There are some parts of the community that see this as wrong because they still think that buses come under the heading of public transport. Wrong, there is no longer any such thing as public transport. Bus services are now run by private commercial companies the same as trains. No pay, no cover costs, no subsidy, no make a profit, no run. The situation on the Isle of Wight is just another example of people not understanding this - or choosing not to understand the result of privatisation because they think that political capital can be made out of the situation.

I somehow can't see the state nationalising train and bus services ever again.